


Sinner in Night's Shadow

by Tehpootisman, The_Factory



Category: Terraria, 盾の勇者の成り上がり - アネコユサギ | Tate no Yuusha no Nariagari | The Rising of the Shield Hero - Aneko Yusagi
Genre: Action/Adventure, Crossover, Mystery
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-29
Updated: 2021-02-08
Packaged: 2021-03-01 18:02:16
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 5
Words: 15,784
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23901274
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tehpootisman/pseuds/Tehpootisman, https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Factory/pseuds/The_Factory
Summary: When Naitokira, a surprisingly chill 'warrior" in-training is summoned to Melomarc against his will as the fifth hero, aka The Hero of the Dagger, to fight the Waves of Calamity, he's a tad determined to get home. However, "home" might be closer than he thought...but not in the way one would expect, either. Based on the Calamity Mod's Rogue Class!
Comments: 8
Kudos: 32





	1. Dragged into a new adventure

**Author's Note:**

> Edit: Forgot to give him the Counter Scarf.

**Tehpootisman here with another Calamity crossover!**

**This time, a crossover with Shield Hero, featuring Calamity’s Rogue Class!**

**Yes, I do plan to continue working on** **_The Stars Above_ ** **, so don’t worry** **_too much_ ** **.**

**—**

_The great watcher roared, splattering blood and other various fluids across the moonlit grass, charging forth with reckless abandon._

_Its foe, a young bruised and battered man clutched his wounds as blood leaked through the gnarled gashes on their dark, obsidian armor._

_The man looked to the night sky and saw that the moon was nearing the horizon._

_He needed to end this. Now._

_A normal, unassuming red brick formed in his hand, as he snuck through the tall grass with great haste._

_The giant eye stopped its rampage, and immediately located the man. Even without a pupil, it seemed that the beast still had impeccable eyesight, able to spot the man whose armor blended in almost perfectly with the night._

_It charged, but before it could hit him, the man threw the brick. It shattered with a strangely excessive force for such a projectile, shredding through the mawed beast’s internals._

_The momentum kept it going, one of the many teeth stabbing into the man’s stomach as the beast began its death throes._

_The man winced as he pushed himself off of the eye’s tooth, a gaping hole in his abdomen. Scrambling for a health potion, his knees buckled as his body oozed precious blood._

_The beast wasn’t faring any better, its flesh cracking like a stone as blood arced out like water jets, before finally bursting into guts and gore._

**_Eye of Cthulhu has been defeated!_ **

_There was no real need for the potion. Glowing hearts flew at the man, carrying the eye’s momentum. They gingerly touched his body, sealing his wounds and restoring his armor to peak condition._

_As the rising sun marked yet another tale of survival, the man collapsed to the ground, exhausted despite his healed state. He clutched the well earned eye-shaped Treasure Bag in his hands, the man closed his eyes for a well-earned rest…_

  
  
  


“Brave heroes! We have summoned you four to save our world!”

  
  


_‘Hold up.’_

—

The young man sat up, now finding himself in the middle of a grandiose room, surrounded by priests and sitting on a magical sigil that was rapidly growing dimmer and dimmer.

To one side of the room, was a king sitting upon his throne.

“We ask of you, please lend us your...huh? There’s… there are five heroes…?”

The youngster looked around, seeing four more young men similar in age. Each one wielded a unique weapon donning a large, vibrant jewel.

The king spoke up. “Hum, an interesting turn of events! Heroes, I ask of thee, please help us in our time of need! A terrifying phenomenon known as the Waves of Calamity is devastating our kingdom!”

The five heroes looked at each other, unsure of what to say.

“If you help us, I promise that you will be rewarded handsomely!”

The blonde-haired man with the spear shrugged. “Welp, I’m in.” 

The other heroes quickly decided to follow in his footsteps, at the promise of sweet loot— and maybe even a way to go home.

“Excellent!” The king remarked. “Welcome to the Kingdom of Melomarc! I am the king of this glorious country, Aultcray Melomarc XXXII. Now, great heroes, I will hear your names.”

While Naito tried to figure out what number ‘XXXII’ translated to, the heroes introduced themselves.

First up, was the man with the dark grey hair. In his hand, a large sword. “Ren Amaki, age 16. I’m a high school student.”

The second was the child-like blonde with a bow. “Itsuki Kawasumi, 17-years old, I’m also a high schooler.”

The spear-wielding blonde from before stepped up, “Motoyasu Kitamura. I’m 21, and a university student.”

The black-haired man with a small shield on his arm spoke up. “I’m Naofumi Iwantani, age 20. I’m also a university student.”

Curiously, the king seemed to barely acknowledge the shielder-user...then, it was the obsidian-armored man’s turn.

_‘Alright, first impressions matter. Don’t mess this up.’_

He cleared his throat, standing up straight.

\---

**“My name is Naitokirā. I’m a warrior in training.”** His voice was not at all fit for the young man, being more fit for a grizzled war veteran with a five-o-clock shadow. 

His voice startled the other four heroes. The air became somewhat tense as he seemed to menacingly stand there, proud and tall. The smell of iron became apparent, as while his wounds from fighting the Eye of Cthulhu had closed, the drying blood was still there.

\---

_‘Shit, shit, shit SHIT SHIT SHIT DAMAGE CONTROL ACTIVATE!!’_

Naito cleared his throat again. 

“ **Apo—** *AHEM*” Once more. This time, his voice came out as normal. “...Apologies. I didn't mean to speak in such a manner. I had just finished a great ordeal back in my world before arriving and had no time to prepare myself before being summoned. Please forgive me. ” He said, bowing down respectfully.

The stiff atmosphere seemed to quickly loosen up. The king nodded, a drop of sweat running down his temple. “I see. In that case, I shall allow you and the other heroes to use our castle’s facilities for the night.”

He then cleared his throat. “Anyways. Motoyasu, Ren, Itsuki, and Naitokirā. If you would please open your status menus…”

‘ _Huh?’_

Three of the other four heroes looked confused. Ren shrugged. “You four didn’t already notice? The bottom right corner of your vision.”

Sure enough, there was a strange symbol in the corner of Naito’s vision. It had a little white exclamation mark above it as if it had some important notifications.

_‘Hm...open?’_

To his surprise, a menu popped up!

**_[You have several pending notifications!]_ **

**Name: Naitokirā**

**Class: Dagger Hero** **_[Locked]_ **

**Health: 200/200**

**Mana: 60/60**

**Rage: 147/10000**

**Adrenaline: 0/1000**

**Defense: 16**

**Stealth points: 0/100** **_[Fully Visible]_ **

  
  


Locked, huh? Come to think of it, he only just now noticed the small dagger in his hand, having unconsciously put the Treasure Bag into his inventory.

The dagger had an ornate marble-like hilt, that resembled the outstretched wings of an angel. It also had a large purple jewel in the center. Honestly, it looked more like a decoration piece than a proper weapon.

Naito was rather surprised to see the “Rage” and “Adrenaline” meters.

Up until this point, he wasn’t aware of him being a _Ripper. Rippers_ were special Terrarians who could channel their rage to achieve a superhuman state.

Shrugging, the Terrarian continued to inspect his stats.

**\---**

**Armor**

**Otherworldly Obsidian Outlaw Hat - 5% increased Rogue damage**

**Otherworldly Obsidian Longcoat - 5% increased Rogue critical strike chance**

**Otherworldly Obsidian Pants - 5% increased Rogue weapon velocity**

**Set Bonus:** **Set Bonus: +2 defense and 5% increased rogue damage and critical strike chance**

**Grants immunity to normal fire, small resistance to all other types of fire, and temporary immunity to lava**

**Otherworldly -** **This armor’s material follows a different set of rules than what is present in this world.**

**Social Slots (Armor)**

**_N/A_ **

**Accessories**

**[Fleeting (+2 Movement Speed)] Shoe Spikes - Allows Wall-climbing. Synergizes with Climbing Claws.**

**[Hard (+1 Defense)] Climbing Claws - Allows Wall-climbing. Synergizes with Shoe Spikes.**

**Raider’s Talisman - Critical hits with Rogue Weapons increases damage. Stacks up to 250 levels, for a total of 25% increased damage. The current level is 50.**

**\---**

A different set of rules? Hm, he’d have to look into that later. First, he inspected his weapon.

**[Legendary] Legendary Dagger of the Hero**

**12 Rogue Damage**

**Extremely weak knockback**

**4% Crit Chance**

**_[Override]_** **Melee strikes to vulnerable areas deal 1.5x crit damage.**

**_[Override]_** **All stats are scaled to** ** _[Terraria]_** **system. All displayed information about stats does not include modifiers from weapons or armor.**

**_[Note]_ ** **Crit chance refers to the likelihood of a random crit, regardless of where the strike lands.**

**Stealth Strike -** **_[Locked]_**

Huh. How interesting. The man then decided to check his pending notifications.

**_[Rogue-Class Weapons detected in inventory. Due to Legendary Weapon restrictions, you will not be able to wield these.]_ **

…What???

**_[Would you like to integrate these weapons into your Legendary Weapon?_ ** **_Note: This will consume them.]_ **

…

Screw it.

**_[Otherworldly - Terraria_ ** **weapon tree Installed!]**

**_[Ammo Points unlocked!]_ **

**Weapon unlocked: Wulfrum Knife**

**8 Rogue Damage**

**4% Crit chance**

**15/15 Ammo Points**

**Stealth Strike:** **Increased weapon velocity, counts as two strikes upon impact.**

**Weapon unlocked: Throwing Brick**

**14 Rogue Damage**

**24% Crit Chance**

**Ammo Points: 79/15**

**Stealth Strike:** **Shatters upon impact, dealing shrapnel damage.**

_‘What the hell are Ammo Points?’_

**[Tutorial - Ammo Points]**

**Many Rogue Weapons have a limited supply. Once fully depleted, you will not be able to use that weapon.**

**Getting a good night’s sleep will replenish all ammo points.**

**You may also craft the weapons to bypass the ammo point cap, however, excess supply will take up inventory space.**

**Using a weapon in melee combat will not spend its Ammo Points.**

Okay, now _that’s really_ interesting.

“Oi! Naito-san!” Motoyasu tapped on his shoulder, causing him to turn around. “We’re dismissed!”

The Terrarian blinked a few times. “Oh, sorry.” He followed them as several maids lead them to their temporary rooms.

“Dinner will be served in due time. Please, do take this time to use the facilities to freshen yourselves up.”

—

And so, Naito found himself in the royal bath, which looked more like an indoor hot spring.

“Y’know, compared to my uncle’s, this place isn’t too shabby.” He said aloud as he washed away the grime, sweat, and dried blood. “Even has plumbing.”

**Buff: Squeaky Clean!**

**_A refreshing bath has soothed your body and soul. Plus, you don’t smell too bad._ **

**_+20 Max Stealth Points_ **

**_+3% Rogue Crit Chance_ **

**_Time remaining - 5 hours or until wounded._ **

  
  


Thanks to his stage of undress, one could easily see that his forearms were completely wrapped in bandages. 

He contemplated taking them off to properly wash them. He tugged on a loose piece of fabric, then stopped. 

“No, somebody could be watching.”

His father was a very experienced warrior. Well, he wasn’t sure if “Warrior” was the term one would use, but he was most certainly a powerful individual.

One of the important lessons he’d learned was to always assume someone was watching him. 

Which is why he _kinda_ needed to do away with the whole ‘talking-to-himself-when-he’s-alone’ thing.

He stabbed his dagger into a bar of soap as he moved to wash his hair. For some reason, that thing refused to enter his invento—

**Weapon Unlocked: Bar of Soap**

**3 Rogue Damage**

**5% Crit Chance**

**Ammo Points: 5/5**

**Will always do 20x Crit damage to Eyeball monsters.**

**It may also be used as an actual bar of soap for cleaning oneself. This function can be used even if you’re out of Ammo Points.**

**_Stealth Strike:_ ** **Increased weapon velocity.**

**Leaves a trail of soapy bubbles that inflict** **_[Soap in the Eyes]_ ** **on enemies, decreasing their defense by 5 and disabling eye-based powers for 15 seconds.**

“....Excuse me, what?” He grabbed his dagger, changing it to its new form.

Now sitting in his hand was a bar of soap. _With the dagger’s signature purple gem sitting on top of it._

“What.”

—

**[Later at Dinner…]**

“Heh, I already like this place.” Motoyasu quipped. “Lots of cute girls. I feel like me and this world are gonna get along quite nicely!”

At the moment, Naitokirā was sitting inside of an extravagant dinner hall of sorts, at a large table filled with a bit too much food for five people alone to finish off.

Well, more for him, at least!

The spear-wielding blonde leaned back in his seat, “This place really feels a lot like _Emerald Online,_ systems and all! That’ll be a cinch!”

Itsuki raised an eyebrow at this. “I know! Also, you mean _Wave Dimension, right?”_

“....What are you two talking about? This game’s basically the real-life version of _Brave Star Online._ ”

Apparently, Naofumi didn’t know what they were talking about either.

“Could it be...are we from different Earths?”

The three started naming off things like “Who is the current Japanese Prime Minister?” and getting completely different answers.

Naito just chowed down on some chicken legs. It was surprisingly greasy for a world that had yet to invent anything close to KFC (Krimson Fried Chicken.)

“‘Ey, Naito!” One of them called out. “Noticed you weren’t answering our questions.”

“Hm? Sorry. I was eating.”

“Eh, it’s alright. Say, doesn’t this world feel like a game to you?”

_‘Excuse me, what??’_

He looked up at Motoyasu. “...Well, it’s _game-like,_ yes. But I wouldn’t say it’s a game. Sure, you can see your capabilities using a numerical value, but it doesn’t feel all that special, to be honest.”

“Whaaaat?! People would literally _die_ for a chance like this! In fact, I did die before being summoned! Got stabbed by two girls who were fighting over me. Hehe…”

Naito gave the spear-wielder a funny look. “Okay? My world had...some type of game element too.”

“Hah, really?! Then it’ll be easy for you!”

_‘I highly doubt it. I nearly died right before being summoned.’_

Naito just shrugged. “Whatever.”

He went back to eating some rather delicious food.

As he did, he heard them trash-talking Naofumi’s shield, and about how his class has overall low-tier abilities.

_‘Idiots, the lot of them. That’s the whole point of a shield. It’s to absorb blows.’_

…

_‘Yo, this chicken is really good!’_

“Hey, uh…” Itsuki began, approaching him. “What’s with the bandages?” 

Without his Obsidian Armor, his bandages were a lot more obvious to the other summoned heroes.

“Oh, those? Well, it’s a security measure. You see, my father has a very high position in my homeland’s governing body. My, erm, _birthmarks,_ stick out like a sore thumb.”

“Huh. Interesting. So why don’t you take them off? Surely, there wouldn’t be anybody from your world that could recognize you!”

Naito shrugged. “You’d be surprised how many enemies our leader has. Besides, I like the aesthetic.”

Itsuki stared at him for a moment. “Eh, alright. You do you, I suppose.”

\---

That night, in the room given to Naito scrolled through his menus, looking for more information. Eventually, he came upon his inventory.

—

**56x Gel**

**6x Lens**

**50x Torch**

**64x Throwing Brick (Ammo)**

**Cell Phone**

**15x Lesser Healing Potion**

**Treasure Bag (Eye of Cthulhu)**

**3x Silver Bar**

**45x Wood**

**Golden Pickaxe**

**Golden Axe**

**12x Glass bottle**

**3x Fallen Star**

  
**Counter Scarf**  
  


**—**

Monetary-wise, he had at least two gold, 68 silver and 74 copper coins on him, so there was that.

Though, curiosity got the best of him. He put a single copper coin up to the gem on his dagger.

**Weapon unlocked: Copper Coin Dagger - Terrarian**

**6 Rogue Damage**

**3% Crit Chance**

**Enemies drop 10% more copper coins on defeat.**

**Stealth Strike:** **Inflict** **_[Lesser Midas Touch],_ ** **causing enemies to drop 10% additional copper coins on defeat.**

**One of three Conditions fulfilled for Piggy Bank Dagger:**

**[X] Copper Coin Dagger**

**[_] Silver Coin Dagger**

**[_] Gold Coin Dagger**

**Weapon unlocked: Copper Coin Dagger**

**6 Rogue Damage**

**3% Crit chance**

**While equipped: 10% discount when purchasing items.**

  
  


The second weapon didn’t even come with a Stealth Strike. How curious…

Even more interesting was that he could apparently unlock new weapons...by unlocking other weapons.

He thought about it for a while, and then shrugged as he decided to just roll with it.

_‘Come to think of it, I haven’t opened my treasure bag…’_

Pulling it out of his inventory, Naito untied the string sealing it shut and dumped its contents all over the small desk in his room.

First to come out was the Shield of Cthulhu, being decently bigger than the bag itself. No chance he’d be able to use it, but its dash ability would probably be great for Naofumi, though.

Next came a pair of binoculars. A lucky find!

But what surprised him the most was when the ores came out, spilling into a pile as the bag finally deposited three more gold coins and a heart-shaped Life Crystal before the bag itself turned black and crumbled like burning fabric.

More specifically, _both Demonite_ **_and_ ** _Crimtane_ ore. 

That...wasn’t supposed to happen. The bag was supposed to drop ore aligned with whatever taint was the most prevalent. 

For it to drop _both..._ were they so perfectly matched in power that they caused something weird to happen?

Or was it because this might be a new world?

Not only that, but the seeds were dropped as well. He’d have to make sure that these didn’t fall into the wrong hands.

To the side, a spark of energy, the colorations vaguely resembling an eye. It wasn’t uncommon for the Jungle Tyrant, Yharim, to use these things, known as Lore Sparks, to communicate with certain Terrarians on their journeys. The sparks themselves could mutate the body, granting great boons at the cost of an equally great burden.

Yet, the lord’s voice never came.

He sighed in defeat and tapped it with his dagger’s jewel.

**Lore Series unlocked!**

**Weapon unlocked: Lore Dagger - Eye of Cthulhu**

**23 Rogue Damage**

**4% Crit Chance**

**When equipped: Gain enhanced night vision during the night, but blinded during the daylight.**

**Stealth Strike:** **_Gaze upon the masses._ ** **When thrown, the dagger will highlight all enemies within sight.**

  
  


Naito approached the open window, climbing onto the windowsill. 

It was time for him to prepare to take on this new unfamiliar world, and prove himself as a worthy successor to his father.

…

…

…

After raiding the kitchen for yet another helping of chicken, of course!


	2. Meandering about

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Naitokira meets the team, and decides to visit the blacksmith.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> To those of you wondering, i'm a bit lazy when it comes to uploading chapters. For example, The Stars Above is currently on chapter 12 (Actually 13, but that's a bonus chapter) on Fanfiction.net. I will try to make an effort to upload more chapters of my stories.

The next morning, Naito found himself waiting once more in front of the king, having spent most of the night pilfering the kitchen for more food.

There was plenty enough, so no worries there.

“The time has come, our heroes! We have gathered allies to accompany you on your journeys. We have gathered adventurers, mercenaries, and even volunteers from our local church!”

Wait. What?

Weren’t they gonna travel together?

**Notice: The Legendary Weapons repel each other, reducing Experience gain when near each other.**

_‘Experience gain…??’_ The Terrarian thought to himself. _‘How does that work?? Does the weapon just prevent you from improving? Why is experience capitalized…?’_

In Terraria, many aspects of one’s abilities could be calculated into a numerical value, such as his Life Force and defense values.

But he’d never heard of this “Experience” before. 

He’d probably have a lot of it, being raised by some fairly powerful people in Yharim’s Kingdom.

He recalled how Yharim’s son-in-law, Prince Alizarin of the Crimson Kingdom, was extremely experienced, being able to take down powerful foes through sheer skill, even when wielding weapons that were barely stronger than steel.

…Damnit, now he wished he had borrowed one of dad’s blades before he set out on his journey to prove himself.

It would’ve been a lot better than the Cell Phone he bought at some store at his hometown’s local mall.

While he was deep in thought, the doors of the throne room opened to allow a large group of adventurers to enter.

“Now then, heroes, I must regret to inform you that as it is tradition, that it will be the adventurer’s choice as to who they will follow. However! You may recruit whomever you wish! The local church and the adventurer’s guild would be more than pleased to lend the Cardinal Heroes their assistance!”

He then paused. 

“Now, adventurers, choose the hero you will accompany!”

The newcomers split up, gathering around the heroes they desired to travel with.

Roughly a full minute passed before the results became apparent;

Ren gained five followers.

Itsuki gained three, while Motoyasu got four, three of which were women.

Naito himself got two.

Naofumi? All alone, without a single companion.

“Hm...what a strange turn of events.” The King put a thoughtful look on his face. “Rumor has it that the Shield Hero is the least informed about how this world works…”

The warrior-in-training paused.

… _Did he himself even know how this world worked?_

….Blech, he’s a warrior. No time for stupid things like philosophy.

“Will anyone step up to join the Shield Hero?” The king asked. Nobody responded, remaining steadfast in their decisions.

Until a young redheaded from Motoyasu’s party spoke up. “I will volunteer!” 

“H-Huh?! Are you sure about that?” The Spear Hero in question asked, somewhat startled.

“Indeed!” She proclaimed, “I found the idea of a hero being forced to travel alone to be so, so heartbreaking! So please, at least allow me to accompany you at the start of your journey, Shield Hero!”

Naito found himself somewhat moved by her heartfelt speech.

The king hmm’d in response.

“If that’s the case, then I’ll allow it. To start off your adventures, I will bestow each of the heroes a sum of 600 silver. However, due to their circumstances, I will grant the Shield Hero a total of 800.”

He raised a hand forward. 

“Now, great heroes set forth on your journey, and save our world!”

* * *

And so, Naitokirā found himself with his new party of three, himself included.

“G-Greetings, Dagger Hero. My name is Ravilese. I’m a cleric for the Church.”

Ravilese was a rather short girl with green hair, wearing a cloak that was padded with leather armor. She wielded a large staff made of silver, which held a pale yellow crystal at one end.

The Dagger Hero nodded in acknowledgment, turning to face the other companion. He was totally decked out in full armor, looking vaguely like a watered-down version of a Space Marine. He wielded a large hammer and a rather thick tower shield.

“Greetings, fair hero. I am Theonades. I am a paladin from the Adventurer’s guide.”

“I see.” Naito responded. “My name, as you may already know, is Naitokirā. As the Dagger Hero, I will do my best to protect this world and its people by any means necessary.”

**[Lv 12 Cleric Ravilese has joined your party!]**

**[Level 12 Paladin Theonades has joined your party!]**

* * *

With introductions out of the way, Naito requested that his new team members show him around town.

“And this here,” Theonades began motioning over to a specific building, “is where the renowned blacksmith Erhard works. He’s a really good fellow, too. My dad used to be a part of his adventuring party.”

“Hm...interesting. Shall we pay him a visit?”

“Most certainly! You already look to be well equipped, but it never hurts to check in!”

They entered the store, just in time to see Naofumi the Shield Hero fumbling with a sword as it shot out of his hands and clattered onto the ground.

“Woah there, boy! What do you think you’re doing?!” The old man behind the counter chastised the poor hero.

“Weapon restrictions, I presume” The hero of the dagger responded, trying to look wise and cool in front of his peers. “I got notified of that when I first got here because I had weapons in my inventory when I got summoned.”

That got Erhard’s attention. “Eh? Summoned? The two of you...are you legendary heroes?”

“Indeed. Legendary Hero of the Dagger, Naitokirā, at your service.” He bowed respectfully.

“S-Sir Hero! You d-don’t need to bow to common folk—“ Ravilise exclaimed.

The Terrarian shot his cleric an upset glance. _‘I’ll bow to whoever I damn please!’_ He thought to himself.

“Heh, getting two heroes to visit my store? Today’s my lucky day. The name’s Erhard. You won’t find a better blacksmith anywhere else in the capital!”

Naito decided to browse the store’s wares while the old blacksmith handled Naofumi’s orders.

Soon, the kid walked out with a fresh suit of chainmail and an eager expression on his face as he and his other party member strode out to go kill some monsters in the field.

“So, Dagger boy! What can I do fer’ ya?”

“First of all, what are your policies on bringing in materials for you to work with?”

“Oh, getting straight to the point, are we?”

“Indeed.” Naito held out his bandaged hand, materializing two pieces of ore that he unbagged last night. Ravilize nearly choked on her own spit upon seeing these unholy metals.

“These are materials from my world, known as Demonite and Crimtane. They aren’t particularly rare and aren’t anywhere close to being high-end materials— not by a long shot. But they’re easy to work with.”

He paused.

“When forged into armor they have unique magical properties. Unfortunately, as of now, my supply is extremely limited and even then, I lack the additional materials needed to forge said armor. So I was wondering if I could sell some of these to you.”

“Hmm…I see. So, how much do these sell for back in your world?”

“About 40 silver for Crimtane bars, and 32 silver for Demonite bars. Ores go for 9 and 8 respectively. It takes about three pieces of ore to make one full ingot— So you should have enough for about 15 or 16 each.”

“I see!”

“However, I’d like for you to set aside about five bars of each, as well as the leftover ore, for my dagger, please.”

“Alright! Pleasure doing' business with ya! I don’t have many orders today, so I oughta be able to get them finished by tomorrow! ” The two shook hands before the old man gave him a few hundred silver.

“Say,” Erhard began, “What’s your armor made of? I’ve never seen a strange material such as that before.”

“Oh. It’s made of Obsidian and spider Silk. Though, according to the status magic, it’s _Otherworldly_.”

“Otherworldly? Hm...well, I guess there must be something special about it, because obsidian is pretty fragile.”

“Oh? Is that so? Interesting.”

“Although, I’m afraid that fabric-based armors are a bit outside my area of expertise, especially when they involve something as delicate as silk. But if you bring me some monster hides, I can work with that.”

“Hm...what about monster _guts_?”

“I’d have to charge extra, but sure. I’ve worked with some pretty exotic materials before.”

“I see.” Naito smiled under his bandanna. “I look forward to our future endeavours.”

“Likewise, Dagger boy!”

* * *

After they left the shop, Rivilise got up in Naito’s face.

“S-Sir Dagger hero! What in the world were those unholy materials?!”

“Did you not hear me? Those are metals from my world.”

“B-But the energies they radiated! They...They go against the natural order of the world!”

“What are you, a Dryad? Our world sees those as necessary evil. Entire _kingdoms_ have been built upon the tainted lands of which those metals hail from. We can control it, but cannot eradicate it. In addition, it would be disrespectful to remove what remains of a dead god.”

The cleric's face paled. “A...A-A what?!”

“You heard me.” He turned around coolly. “Theonades, do you know where the good monster hunting grounds are?”

“Ah, but of course, sir hero! I shall lead the way!”

“D-Don’t dodge the question!” Rivilese complained as she chased after the two. “You can’t just casually say things like— Wait, come back!”

* * *

And so, the party found themselves in a field just outside of the castle city’s walls.

Bouncing along the ground were orange balloon-lime creatures, with devilish little faces and beady, mischievous eyes. For some reason, they reminded him of the slimes from back home...albeit, these guys were more expressive.

One hopped up to him and tried to bite his ankles. 

He mercilessly ended it with a single stomp, stamping on it hard enough to send a bolt of pain up his leg.

**+2 EXP [Transferred to Party]**

EXP? Like, Execution Points from Undertale?

He...He wasn’t sure if he was ready to do that.

Naito shrugged off that line of thought and looked out towards a group of techni-colored balloon monsters. He switched to the brick weapon and waited, his body becoming ethereal as his stealth points rapidly built up.

**Stealth Points: 100/100 (Stealth Strike Ready)**

He lobbed that brick across the clearing where it shattered in the middle of the cluster, shredding the balloons apart with terracotta shrapnel.

**+18 EXP [Transferred to Party]**

The purple jewel stayed floating for a second, pulling in the tattered, rubbery remains of the Balloon Monsters.

**Balloon series unlocked!**

**New weapon unlocked: Orange Balloon Airburst**

**5 Rogue Damage**

**4% Crit chance**

**Ammo Points: 10/10**

**Projectiles fly slow but very far.**

* * *

**New weapon unlocked: Yellow Balloon Airburst**

**6 Rogue Damage**

**4% Crit chance**

**Ammo Points: 10/10**

**Projectiles fly slow but very far.**

**Explodes into weak electricity.**

**On hit: 10% chance to stun enemies.**

* * *

**New weapon unlocked: Blue Balloon Airburst**

**5 Rogue Damage**

**4% Crit Chance**

**Ammo Points: 6/6**

**Projectiles fly slow but very far.**

**On hit: Restore 3 Mana for the wielder**

* * *

**New weapon unlocked: Red Balloon Airburst**

**7 Rogue Damage**

**5% Crit Chance**

**Ammo Points: 5/5**

**Projectiles fly a little slow, but fly very far.**

**On hit: Inflict [On Fire!] debuff for 3 seconds**

* * *

**4 of 7 Conditions for Rainbow Balloon Airburst fulfilled.**

**[X] Orange Balloon Airburst**

**[X] Yellow Balloon Airburst**

**[X] Blue Balloon Airburst**

**[X] Red Balloon Airburst**

**[_] Green Balloon Airburst**

**[_] Indigo Balloon Airburst**

**[_] Violent Balloon Airburst**

* * *

**Conditions for Chomp Chomp unlocked.**

**[5/50] Kill 50 Balloon Monsters**

**[Completed] Defeat 1 Boss monster**

He had unlocked several weapons, as his thrown projectiles apparently had an auto-absorb function.

But...since when has he defeated a boss monster? He’d killed nothing but these ankle-biters and several buckets worth of chicken ever since he’d gotten here.

Then, a theory came to mind.

The way his world worked, was that certain regions and islands were magically attuned in mysterious ways. Defeating large boss monsters caused new things to awaken across the land.

So...perhaps by defeating the Eye of Cthulhu immediately before being summoned, it counted towards the number of bosses defeated?

...Nice. So by that means, he already had a bit of a head start in terms of overall strength.

With that in mind he set to work!

He switched to the default form and threw several blades at several distant balloons.

* * *

_The watcher in the shadows of the nearby forest observed the mysterious new Dagger Hero as he went to town on these run of the mill balloon monsters._

_He was clearly more experienced than the other summoned Heroes in terms of combat prowess. Not a true master, but still visibly well-versed. His responses were quick and his movements fairly fluid._

_The Dagger Hero was also...rather brutal for a person wielding a proper assassin’s weapon. The Shadow watched as this man grabbed a Balloon by the jaws and ripped it wide open until it was torn in half._

_Suddenly, the hero’s violet eyes locked onto their watcher, his head snapping towards their general direction with mechanical speed._

_The Shadow flinched, the branch on which they stood abruptly snapping._

_As they tumbled onto the ground, one thought ran through their mind._

_This man was dangerous and dangerously perceptive. The Church would have to tread carefully around this man!_

* * *

Naitokirā, unaware of the Shadow’s presence, had stopped his rampage to observe a rather colorful songbird that had been perched above his observer’s hiding place.

“Sir Hero, is everything alright?”

The warrior-in-training looked at his Paladin comrade. 

“Everything is fine, sir Theonades. The wildlife here is oddly familiar, yet quite foreign.” He let his dagger fall upon a sneaky Balloon. “Well, the non-monster parts, anyways. How many of these ankle-biters have you slain, anyways?”

“Not very many, I’m afraid. These little buggers are surprisingly fast!”

“I see.” He paused. “Out of curiosity...is there anything I should know about my abilities as a summoned hero?”

The paladin put a metal gauntlet to his helmet’s chin. “Hm...the legends about the previous heroes told of various ways to increase their power. However, I’m not sure about any of them, as there are supposedly many different methods, so I’m not sure which ones are true.”

…

“But...one thing I DO know is that heroes can use something called **_Skills._ ** **”**

**Y** **ou have unlocked** **_Skills_ ** **and** **_Passive Skills_ ** **!**

* * *

**[Tutorial: Skills]**

**Skills are special attacks, similar to Stealth Strikes and magic spells. However, instead of Stealth Points, Skills use your mana.**

**Unlike spells, Skills have a cooldown period, so use them wisely!**

**Offensive Skills can be obtained by absorbing rare monster parts, but tools and other utility items commonly give useful skills as well.**

* * *

**[Tutorial: Passive Skills]**

**Passive Skills are similar to skills, except that they don’t cost mana, and some can even be toggled on and off.**

**Essentially, they function as permanent buffs.**

* * *

Huh. Magic spells? 

* * *

**[Tutorial: Magic Spells]**

**Spells are similar to Skills, except that they have no cooldown. However, they require chants in order to be cast, and stronger spells can sometimes be quite lengthy.**

**In order to learn spells, visit a magic shop to learn your elemental affinity.**

* * *

_‘Alright, good to know.’_

“I see. Thank you, Sir Theonades. I do believe that your wisdom will be a great boon in this adventure.”

_‘Boon, boon, boon. Huh. What a funky word.’_ He thought to himself.

The paladin nodded. “I am honored by your words, sir Hero!”

Meanwhile, poor Rivilese was being hounded by a large swarm of balloon monsters.

By the end of their monster hunting session, Naitokira’s teammates had leveled up to level 15. Together, they’d collectively killed 30 out of the 50 Balloon monsters needed to unlock this “Chomp Chomp” weapon.

* * *

To celebrate their first day of “adventuring”, they visited a well known tavern where, coincidentally, the other heroes had chosen to stay the night.

“Yo! Naito-san!” Motoyasu called out. “How’s your day going?”

“It’s going quite nicely.” The warrior-in-training responded. “Dipped our toes in the water in the fields outside the city. Those ankle-biting balloons were small fry— my team leveled up only thrice.”

“Heh. And you?”

….huh?

“Me? I unlocked a bunch of weapons from those balloons. Not very powerful, my blade’s default state does more damage than all of them combined, but their abilities to inflict debuffs might come in handy.”

“Okay...but...like, what level are you?”

The spear-wielder received a blank, confused stare.

“You okay, dude?”

_‘Ah, uhm, shit.’_

“Ah, apologies, sir Spear hero. My world doesn’t use this ‘leveling’ system you speak of.”

“Oh. Uuh, that’s...that’s cool, I guess.”

Naito just shrugged and looked around. He spotted Naofumi’s sole party member walking through the room.

She spotted him and gave him a flirty smile.

* * *

_She instantly regretted her action._

_The moment the Dagger Hero’s eyes met hers, she felt...inferior._

_She had been informed by her allies that the Dagger Hero was not to be trifled with as of yet, as he was a blank slate. They were going to see what kind of person he was before making a move against him._

_Still, she figured that perhaps, she could perhaps influence the Dagger Hero in some way. After all, she was a master of manipulation._

_But...this man...he was dangerous. He bore the eyes of a killer, one who would be more than willing to end a life, regardless of the consequences._

_For a split second, her vision twisted, with Naitokira being replaced by the silhouette of a black, humanoid creature. Then, it changed back to normal so fast that she didn’t even know if she was hallucinating._

_She decided not to mess with him, which was the smartest move she would_ _ever_ _play._

* * *

_‘Huh.’_ Naitokirā thought to himself. _‘She’s got pretty eyes.’_

He turned away from her and sipped some booze, thinking about his plans for tomorrow.

_‘First, I’ll head over to the adventurer’s guild to register myself. Then, I’ll head over to the magic shop and get my affinity checked.’_

He leaned back a bit.

_‘After that, I guess we’ll find the last of the balloons needed to unlock the new weapons. Maybe we can go look for new monsters?’_

He stared blankly at the wall for a moment, then shrugged.

Guess that was that.

He paid for his drinks and went upstairs to the bedrooms. His teammates had left for the night, as they had to make some final preparations before they could leave with him on his journey beyond the castle walls.

The warrior-in-training flopped onto the bed, staring at the ceiling.

He reached into his pocket, and pulled out a polaroid photo of a woman with raven-black hair. She sat in a wheelchair with a very, very young version of himself sitting on her lap dressed in an adorable bunny onesie.

Naito sighed and pulled out his Cell Phone. He scrolled through the many apps, finally opening up a voice recorder.

“Hey, mom. I’m...I’m doing alright as of now. I don’t even know why I’m bothering to record this. I mean…” He paused. “...The chances of you hearing this are incredibly slim. That’s to be expected when you’re in another dimension. I know Draedon said that this phone of mine had some weird thing called quantum entanglement, but from what little I know about the subject, it shouldn’t work when one’s in another dimension.”

He sighed once more.

“Anyways, thing is...I love you, mom. You’re the best mother I could’ve asked for. Just thought I’d let you know.”

…

He stopped the recording, and attempted to send it to his mother, only to immediately get an error saying “No signal”.

With an annoyed grunt, he tossed the cell phone onto his bed and once again flopped face first onto it.

* * *

**_Passive Skill unlocked:_ ** **_A Mother’s Love_ **

_Your mother gave up her worldly possessions for you, so that she could once more hold the hand of the child she initially despised with all of her being._

_The entity she bargained with has blessed you with a nearly total immunity to curses and incredible resistance to dark magic._

_Note: This is a hidden skill, as it does not show up on the status menu._

  
  
  
  



	3. Chapter 3

**Anyways folks, Journey's End, aka 1.4, is here. I do plan to add some of the new content at some point, however, it will take some time.**

**So I discovered that there was supposed to be a week-long timeskip...damnit, I set too many things up.**

* * *

_Knock knock!_

"Sir Dagger Hero! The king has requested that the heroes are to attend an urgent meeting with him as soon as possible!"

The door slowly creaked open as a pair of purple eyes stared deep into the guard's soul.

" **Who dares disturb my sleep?"** Naito's true voice came out unhindered, like that of a demon in the dark.

"A-Ah! Apologies sir Dagger Hero!" The guard stuttered out. "P-Please take your time…!"

The door was shut. Naitokirā sat on the bed, annoyed that he was now wide awake.

He sighed, and begrudgingly got ready for the day.

* * *

**[Later, at the castle…]**

Now here he was, in the throne room of Melomarc's castle, assembled with three of the other heroes.

The girl who had accompanied Naofumi was here, crying into the Spear Hero's chest, which was covered in a suspiciously familiar-looking suit of chainmail.

"What's going on?" The Dagger Hero impatiently asked. "Why was I forcibly awoken at this hour?"

"Th-That dastardly shield devil...he...he...he pushed me down onto the bed! And..and…"

Oh.

_Oooooooh._

Welp, this got dark pretty quickly.

"I see." He responded. "I apologize for my rude behavior. You have my condolences."

The throne room's doors opened as the unfortunate Shield Hero was dragged in and unceremoniously thrown to the floor.

"Wh-What's going on—"

" **SHIELD HERO!"** Aultcray bellowed angrily. "Who do you think you are?! To think that you would show your true colors so soon…"

"W-Wha— I didn't do anything?!"

" _L-Liar!_ You came into my room, drunk, and...and...You violated me…!" The redhead exclaimed, pointing at him.

"Truly, a disgusting human being," Itsuki said, crossing his arms.

"Despicable, really," Ren added.

"Why, I ought to strike you down for what you did to her!"

"The law states that the punishment for the crime of rape is... _execution."_ The King proclaimed, "However, as you are one of the Four Cardinal Heroes, you are needed in order to fight the waves."

At that moment, Naitokirā witnessed an instantaneous change in Naofumi.

Gone was the naive kid of yesterday, and in his place...well, that's a character development speedrun if he ever saw one.

" _Send me back,"_ Naofumi demanded. "If I am guilty of this so-called crime, then why don't you just toss me out and summon a new one?"

"Of course he wants to go home, after committing such a horrid crime!"

"Taking the easy way out? Coward!"

The King scoffed. "I wish I very well could, Shield Devil! But the only way to summon a new hero is if the previous wielder _dies!"_

Ooh….damn. That kinda sucks.

While this was going down, Naito threw many glances towards the Spear Hero. More specifically, his chainmail. Had he been paying attention, he probably would've seen the red-head, who was now by the king's side, make a "Gotcha" gesture.

"Fine then!" The kid all but shouted. "I didn't ask to be summoned here, and I most certainly did _not_ ask for this goddamn _**bullshit!**_ "

He turned around, yanking open the grand doors.

" _ **FUCK EACH AND EVERY ONE OF YOU IN THIS ROOM!**_ _**YOU WANT A HERO?**_ _**FUCK YOU AND FUCK THIS WORLD!"**_

_**SLAM!** _

….Damn. Naito actually shivered a little, despite his warrior training.

The nobles in the room began to talk amongst themselves, admonishing the hero's actions.

"Your majesty, if I may speak." The Dagger Hero spoke up, raising his hand to talk.

"Yes, sir Dagger Hero?"

"Something does not add up here, thus, I believe that there is a conspiracy in the works. Why is the Spear Hero wearing the chainmail..." He motioned towards Motoyasu. "...That I saw Naofumi himself buy and wear?"

The entire room went quiet. Even the redhead's face went a little pale.

"I do not know yet who is involved nor their purpose for doing so. That is all I have to say about the matter."

…

…

…

"I see…the idea of a conspiracy is a concerning one. However, since the evidence points towards the Shield… _hero_ …being the culprit, then I declare them _**guilty**_ _ **.**_ Though...if what you say is true…I...I'll look into it." He seemed to trail off a bit there, with that promise being delivered half-heartedly. "Heroes, you are dismissed."

* * *

Naito tried his best to ignore his cleric's anti-shield rant as he traveled down the road to visit Erhard.

The Dagger Hero had decided to hold off on visiting the magic shop, given as he didn't really have much use for magic and would like to save his Mana for his Skills.

As he entered the door to the blacksmith's little shop, Ravil eep'd and hid behind Naito as they came face-to-face with the devil himself; Naofumi Iwatani.

"Oh. It's _you._ Have you come to finally throw your shit at me, after staying silent during the whole sham?" The Shield Hero spat at him.

"Oi, kiddo…"

Naito turned to his party members. "Ravilese, Theonades. Go…wait for me at the Church."

"B-But…"

"This could get... **very messy**."

"...R...Right! If you say so, sir hero!"

Naitokira stared at the Shield Hero dead in the eyes.

* * *

**[Flashback]**

" _Now, young man, listen up." The dark-skinned mage in red began. "It's important to know the true feelings of those you meet. Whether it be in battle on the field or in the office, the best way to gauge someone is by looking into their eyes. Your own father knows more about this than I do, but as you know, he's busy today."_

_She stared at Naitokirā. "The eyes are the gateway into the soul, young man. A lot can be learned by just getting a good look. Now, tell me."_

_She got up reaaaaal close to Naito, gazing deep into his soul. "What do you see, young child?"_

" _...I see amber, Miss Calamitas!"_

" _...Young child."_

" _And...and I see...Miss Calamitas...do you need a hug?"_

…

…

…

" _Yes. Yes I do…"_

* * *

"Aight, you're good." Naitokirā suddenly relaxed his shoulders, as well as his tone of voice. This really threw Naofumi really off guard; he didn't think the mysterious man was really capable of doing the former.

"Been told how to read people through their eyes. Think I do it a bit too well, honestly." He shrugged and sighed, revealing his true, laid-back nature for the shop's other two current inhabitants to see. He meandered over to the counter and leaned against it.

"So, Naofumi. Uuuh…" He lost his thoughts for a moment. "Look, I'll get straight to the point. You've been caught up in some of...conspiracy, I guess, and after looking into your eyes, I've got it all figured out!"

…

"I gotta say, though, I'm actually impressed by your performance back there. I've come face-to-face with literal gods before, so imagine my surprise when I actually felt kinda scared. You know, not in the ' _oh god I'm about to die'_ scared but the ' _oh god oh fuck'_ kind of way.

* * *

**[Flashback]**

" _PLEASE DON'T CRY, KID. I DID NOT MEAN ANY HARM."_

_The god-eating worm grew more and more panicked in its attempts to soothe the young child it had spooked, quickly changing its focus between the child and the imposing figure of the Jungle Tyrant who was impatiently tapping his foot and slowly pulling his Ultisword out of his sheath in a very, very threatening manner._

* * *

"Wait, all figured out?" Not even Naofumi's immense anger could hold back the tide of confusion.

Even Erhard raised an eyebrow.

"That's right," The Dagger hero confidently declared. "It's all the Spear Hero's fault!"

"...Huh?"

"Think about it. Who else would have a reason to screw you over? When that pretty lady—"

" _Don't EVER call her that."_

Naito flinched. "W-What?"

"That ' _pretty lady'_ is a fucking backstabbing bitch, SHE'S the one who set me up!"

"...Wait, she's the mastermind? That…"

…

"...Damn. I...may have told the King that I suspected a conspiracy was in the works…after you stormed out."

"You did WHAT now?"

"You heard me."

It was at this moment when Naofumi realized that the one other ally in this world thus far was a huge fucking idiot.

"Hey...so...uh...sorry."

"Huh?"

"Sorry for not saying anything during the trial. You might not have heard me when I discussed this with Itsuki...but...I know a little bit about high-end politics. My mother...she manages my homeland's treasury. Had to bribe me with a lot of candy whenever little ole' me found a super secret document describing what over-budget death machine the royal scientist was trying to make this time— He tried to build a _planet-busting spaceship!_ Can you believe that?!" Then he sighed, leaning against the counter, ignoring Naofumi's slightly unnerved face and the blacksmith's face of total confusion.

"There's a time to stay silent, and it's almost all the time. Politics are tough, Shield Hero. This is why I prefer being out in the field. None of that stonewalling hanky panky— Uncle Yharim made a lot of enemies in the past, and I intend to make sure none of them ruin his efforts to repent for his numerous sins. Well, once I move on to actual human targets. I...I don't think I'm ready for that."

"...I don't fully understand what the two of you are going on about, but…" Erhard shrugged, "you're kinda taking up precious time, just standing around."

"Sorry," Naito began. "I'll wrap it up quickly. By the way, did you finish smelting those bars?"

"Oh, about that, some high-end adventurer came in and requested some repair work be done on their weapons, so I was only able to get it half-way done."

"Aight, good enough for me. Say...Naofumi. Let's have a truce."

"What?"

"The moment I leave this shop, I'll be back in my tough-guy persona. No more friendly interactions for us. So I propose a truce."

He held out his hand.

"In exchange for a secret truce, I offer you—"

**[WEAPON VIOLATION DETECTED!]**

"FUC—" A certain shield materialized into his outstretched hand, only for it to spark and bounce away. He tried to catch it, only to incur another weapon violation.

"SHIT—" And another.

"GOD FUCKING—" And yet another.

"STAY STILL!" Zap.

Eventually, Naofumi raised his shielded arm up to block the oversized projectile when it suddenly shot at him with suspicious precision.

It hit the large green jewel, which immediately began to glow. The Shield of Cthulhu digitized and deconstructed block by block as it was absorbed by the shield.

* * *

**[Naofumi POV]**

**[Weapon Copy successful!]**

**[** _ **Terraria**_ **Series unlocked!]**

**New weapon unlocked - Shield of Cthulhu**

**+2 Agility**

**+2 Defense**

**New skill unlocked: Shield Dash**

**Dash into enemies to deal damage. Spiked shields deal 20% more damage on impact. Short cooldown.**

* * *

**[Naito POV]**

"T-This is…"

"Thank me later. Truce?"

Naofumi smiled, a quite devious smile indeed.

The two shook hands.

As Naitokirā left the shop, his inventory now carrying a few bars of Crimtane and Demonite, felt ever so slightly stronger.

Erhard looked at Naofumi and sighed.

"I'm kind of jealous, that kid learned how to do the whole eye-reading thing much earlier than I did…"

—

The Dagger Hero approached the church where he had left his party members.

"Sir Dagger Hero!" Ravil ran up to Naito, tears forming in the corners of her eyes. "Are you okay?!"

"I am fine, miss Ravilese. We had a few heated words, and nothing more."

"I'm glad you're safe. Knowing the Shield Devil, there's nothing they could really do…but still…"

"Ah, Dagger Hero." A priest walked up to Naito, a small smile on his face. "We humbly welcome you to our church! Please, allow me to show you around!"

Naito nodded, stowing away a portion of his usually cold demeanor. "Thank you for the warm welcome and the tour, sir." It'd be useful to know the facilities he may come to use in the future.

As the priest guided him around, their tour guide went on about how the Sword, Spear, and Bow heroes were gifts from God and the such.

* * *

Out of the blue, the priest turned to Naito. "Dagger hero, what are your thoughts on the Shield's wielder, especially after...the crimes he has wrought upon us?"

He thought for a moment, then replied. "While I do not fully believe he committed the crime, I will not associate myself with him, unless it is to keep him alive. If one of the heroes is dead, then that the lack of manpower poses a great risk to my own survival."

"I see…anyways, onto a different subject. We heard that you came from a world different from those of even the other heroes. Out of curiosity, what is the religion from your world like?"

The hero thought for a moment.

"So-so. Many lesser divine entities, which we call Elementals, have fallen from grace, many becoming nothing more than feral. One has even gone as far as to attack those who attempt to worship her, thinking them to be mocking her."

"I...I see. Though, you speak of lesser entities, as if there are greater beings?"

Naito nodded. "Indeed. Our world has very few gods that still live. One of the remaining goddesses is very….indiscriminate when it comes to judging people."

The priest seemed interested. "Oh?"

"She declared the entire world guilty and now seeks to purge it in flame."

The priest nearly choked on his own spit.

"T-That's...you have my condolences, Dagger Hero."

"As if that weren't enough, there are people...crazy enough to worship her."

The Church-goer imagined his religion becoming an apocalypse cult, his face going pale.

"A-Ah….I...I see. A-Anyways, I'll...I'll show you our services." He sputtered out, not really interested in hearing more.

Meanwhile, Ravil kinda just...frothed at the mouth until Theonades nonchalantly elbowed her in the side to snap her out of it.

—

The group was led to a large room. Inside, was a grand, multi-segmented hourglass full of red sand, surrounded by finely sculpted gold golden strips connected to a pair of majestic dragons in flight.

Did I mention it was roughly 7 meters tall?

"This, S-Sir Dagger Hero, is the Dragon Hourglass. This relic displays the amount of time remaining until the next wave. You should be able to link up to it. Just raise your weapon up, and the hourglass should do the rest."

The warrior in-training held his weapon up. The jewel began to glow, a beam of light connecting it with the hourglass in a fantastical display.

**Time until next wave - 1 month, 5 weeks**

Naito bowed. "I see. Thank you, kind sir. This will be useful."

"Ah, but we have more to offer you, Dagger Hero. Though, truthfully, as we don't fully trust you, being the wielder of an entirely new Holy weapon...so it may cost extra."

"I understand. What do you have?"

"We can sell you high-quality wares, such as our finest holy water. In addition, we can offer you the sand of the hourglass in exchange for 25 silver."

Naito thought for a moment. He currently had roughly five _gold_ coins on him. That...well, that was a fair amount of money, though that was without the few hundred silver the king had given him.

"Do you accept foreign currency? From what I have seen, this world uses an incredibly similar system to mine." He asked, drawing 10 silver Terrarian coins from his pocket.

The priest took one and inspected it. "Hm...I'll allow it. This silver...it's surprisingly pure, but it'll do."

"Heh." Naito smiled behind his obsidian bandana. "How much for the holy water?"

* * *

**New weapon unlocked: Portal Dagger**

**54 Rogue Damage**

**4% Crit chance**

**[Locked]**

**[1/4] Defeat four bosses**

**[0/1] Repel the Waves of Calamity**

* * *

"Dagger hero! Do _not_ drink the holy water!"

Naito just shrugged. He had to admit, it tasted like fizzy water, yet it burned his throat like alcohol...for some odd reason. Not at all like what they used back home.

Currently, Theonades was leading them to the adventurers guild, after which they would head out deeper into the wilderness around the capital city and officially begin their adventure.

As they entered the tavern-like building, a bunch of people recognized his paladin comrade and came up to congratulate him. A few even wanted to shake hands with Naitokirā, a gesture he gladly allowed.

Once the celebrations died down, his party approached the desk to make their guild cards.

"Ah, sir hero! Welcome to our humble guild! I presume you're here to sign up?"

"I do believe that is the plan."

A few minutes later, the warrior-in-training was handed his guild card. Its surface was beautifully iridescent, gleaming with various colors as the Dagger Hero inspected it.

"Normally, there is an entire ranking system one must go through. However, we have a special status reserved for summoned heroes; _Bismuth Rank._ They may take on _any_ quest regardless of rank, though we insist that you choose those that better suit your level, and especially those of your party, as they too will lose the restrictions.

"I see. Thank you for the information, though I have a few requests."

"We'll do whatever is within our power, sir hero."

"First of all, do you have any starter kit, and perhaps have a bestiary of some sort?"

"Indeed we do! First one's on us, though with the introduction of the waves, the bestiaries may eventually become outdated, is that alright with you?"

"Some information can be better than none."

"Ah, I see. Well, give me a moment…" the receptionist reached under the desk and pulled out a wooden case and a decently-sized book. "Here you go, sir hero!"

"Ah, thank you. One last request…

...Do you know where I may find information about local fishing areas?"


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm condensing/changing up how the weapon stats are displayed from here on out.

Ravilese had been put through a whirlwind of events over the week. 

The Crown summoned the heroes and allowed adventurers to party up with them, but for some reason, they summoned the Shield, and that was a mistake in her opinion, poor Malty... 

What bothered her most was that a fifth hero was somehow summoned....emphasis on  _ somehow _ .

Something was fishy about this fifth hero, "Naito" he calls himself.

No, something  _ literally _ smells fishy. 

That morning, Ravilese awoke to the smell of fish.

“Sir Dagger Hero! What are you  _ doing  _ so early in the morning?!”

“I’m preparing fish.”

A few days had passed since the trial, and in that time Naito discovered that some of the monsters found deeper inside the forests of Melomarc gave him weapons with useful qualities  _ outside  _ of combat.

For example, when he used the  **Eggshell Dagger,** any meal he prepared grew in quality, causing its effects to last longer.

“I-I see...but why  _ fish?! _ ”

“It’s delicious.”

Ravilese took a moment to think about his response. 

“Ugh!” She pouted and went back into her makeshift deer-hide tent. Store-bought, of course.

“Ah, Sir Naito!” Unlike his church cleric, Theonades had started to refer to him by his shortened name. “I see that you’ve prepared a fine meal! Adventurers like me don’t get the chance to dine on foreign cuisine very often.”

“Thank you, Theonades.” The Dagger Hero went back to preparing fish. He grabbed one with an unusually sharp nose and prepared to cut it up, when suddenly…

_ Schloop. _

His Dagger just absorbed it.

* * *

**New weapon unlocked - Freshwater Daggerfish**

**Unaffected by gravity and increased flight speed when used in water**

**Stealth Strike -** **Throws two at once**

* * *

_ “Fuck,”  _ Naito muttered beneath his breath as he pulled off his wide-brimmed hat and scratched his head. “Not again.”

“What happened, sir Naito?”

“My dagger absorbed an entire fish.”

“I see, but what do you mean by ‘not again’?”

The warrior in training sighed and revealed his dagger’s  **Bar of Soap** form.

“This happened.”

Ravilese narrowed her eyes, unable to believe what she was seeing.

“Hm, that would explain how clean you are every day.”

For a moment, Ravilese imagined Naito in all of his ‘glory’, absolutely lathered in—

_ No!  _ Bad cleric! Naughty thoughts begone!

Trying to distract herself from the mental imagery, she looked around frantically.

Her gaze came upon a surprisingly fine small table, on which sat Naito’s “Cellphone,” as he called it, held up at an angle by a crude scaffold made of sticks and some sticky blue substance. 

A strange light emitted from it, moving back and forth over the pages of the wide-open bestiary.

“Sir Dagger Hero, what is this...cell-phone doing?”

He looked up at her. “Translating. The weapons’ abilities don’t work with written texts.”

_ Beep! _

Ravil eep’d as the Cellphone made a strange sound.

“Ah, done translating.” He walked over and picked it up.

The cleric’s mind was wandering. What a strange little device! The world of the other heroes must be advanced if such a little machine could do so much!

Imagine what the church could do with that kind of technology…

* * *

After breakfast, Naito spent a few minutes going over his menus.

His teammates had both reached level 21 over the past few days, and he’d unlocked several new daggers.

First and foremost, he had given some of the ‘evil’ bars to his dagger, unlocking both the **Crimtane** **Cinquedea** and **Demonite Dirk,** both of which had decent damage and potentially useful abilities, especially against some of the monsters this deep into the forest.

* * *

**Crimtane Cinquedea**

**Inflicts [Lesser Bleed] on hit**

**Stealth Strike** **: Throw a pair of high-speed daggers**

* * *

**Demonite Dirk**

**Inflicts [Lesser Weakness] on hit**

**Deals 10% more damage to [Holy] enemies**

**Stealth Strike** **: Launches a high-speed projectile with a staggering effect**

* * *

  
  


He looked over the paper list of jobs, which showed various creatures and even a few outlaws. Even without the ability to read their language, it was quite clear what the objective was;  _ destroy. _

Today’s goal was to kill some creatures known as Cave Gnomes, who were notorious around these parts for assaulting local farm animals (which is why the request was posted in the first place), such as chickens and goats, or for the unlucky, small children.

_ ‘Damn, that sucks.’  _ The Dagger Hero thought to himself.  _ ‘Then again, children my age had to learn how to dodge slimes on the way to school. During Slime Rains.’ _

* * *

A few hours later, Naito and his party were exploring the depths of a cave where these gnomes were said to be housed up.

After a while of trekking, they finally came across their first gnome. It looked exactly as one would expect a normal garden gnome to look; roughly a foot tall, red hat and all...save for one key difference.

It stood there, staring at them with black eyes filled with pure, unadulterated hate.

Ravil gasped. “Oh my god! It’s so small!” She exclaimed, eyes full of sparkles. 

The gnome growled, pulling out a small spear and shouting in some foreign gnome language.

“H-Hey! Relax, I-I’m not going to—“

**_CRACK!_ **

Naito punted the shit out of that gnome, kicking it into the far wall where its neck snapped on impact, killing it instantly.

“W-Whyyyyyy?!”

“The bestiary says these things eat children,” Naito responded in the most dead serious voice he could muster.

“B-But...wha-?!” Ravil mentally blue screened as Naito collected the gnome’s little red hat and allowed his dagger to absorb it. 

_ ‘That's new. I need 9 more to unlock a new weapon…` _

As the group of three headed deeper they came upon a ledge overlooking a large cavern.

And by god, was it beautiful. Little gnomish lights illuminated a small spiraling ‘mountain’ covered in small mushroom houses. A large pool of water surrounding said gnome city reflected this light, creating ethereal patterns across the walls.

Of course, their goal was to destroy it. Shame.

“Ravil, Theonades.” Naito began, “You two fall back, I will...scout the area.”

“Right!”

The Dagger Hero quietly scaled down the wall, going into full stealth mode as he took out his Cell Phone and began his “scouting” of the little gnome town.

_ ‘Mom would’ve loved to see such a beautiful scene. Might as well take pictures before we smash it to pieces.’ _

Only when he was done did he actually start doing proper recon.

_ ‘Fire is most definitely out of the question. Who knows what those shrooms will do to us?’ _

His vision brightened as his dagger morphed into the  **Lore Dagger - Eye of Cthulhu** , activating its passive effect.

The Dagger Hero contemplated using his Stealth Strike to highlight enemies, however, there was no telling if they’d spot him the moment he shed his stealth. 

Fortunately, for him, his cellphone had a partial solution for that. It couldn’t show him  _ where,  _ but it could most definitely show him  _ how many. _

**[Enemies nearby: 7]**

_ ‘What???’  _ It took every inch of his being to not say that out loud. Only a mere seven enemies? He gave his phone a few hard pats as one does when using any piece of technology, but the number didn’t change.

Quietly, he sighed, making his way back up to the ledge and out of the cavern.

* * *

“So what’s the plan, sir Naito?” Theonades asked upon seeing the return of their team leader.

“There are far too few gnomes. Only counted seven in total.”

The paladin slowly nodded in agreement. “....That is indeed quite worrying.”

“If that is the case, then there could be a second group elsewhere. We need to be vigilant.”

Inside his mind, he began to formulate a battle plan.

“Theonades. How good are you at unarmed combat?”

“I have some experience in hand-to-hand combat with smaller monsters as myself was a farmhand when I was growing up in my home village. Why do you ask?”

The gears were turning in his head at full power as he considered his teammates’ abilities.

“Your hammer may not be of much use against such few numbers. However, should we encounter a secondary group, we can use your shield as a barrier.”

“I see! You are a wise one, sir Naito!”

The Dagger Hero turned to Ravil. “Miss Ravilese, do you have any ranged offensive spells?”

“Of course! I know a few first level spells and even some second levels!”

Theonades decided to speak up. “Sir Naito, since we’re in an adventuring party together, you should be able to see our abilities using status magic!”

_ ‘Hey wait, that would’ve been nice to know. That reminds me...we forgot to visit the magic shop.’ _

“I see.”

Opening up the stats screen, the Dagger Hero navigated to the party section and began to read up on Ravil’s spells.

“Ravil, I want you to stand back and cast First Light bolt at any gnome that tries to get past Theonades.”

“B-But won’t sir Theo get caught in the crossfire?!”

“There are only seven enemies. Even then, you’re our healer.”

“A-Ah….”

Naito leaned back, thinking some more as a backup plan began to form in his head.

“In the event that we encounter an unexpected horde, here’s the plan…”

  
  


* * *

  
  


And so, that plan was currently underway.

The fight against the seven gnomes went without a hitch.

There was...one small problem, however.

While Naito had indeed factored in the idea of reinforcements, he had slightly underestimated just how  _ big  _ gnome raiding parties could be. 

They came charging right in with unexpectedly great haste for a bunch of tiny creatures with such short legs.

“Pull back a little!”

And so, Naito put his backup-plan into action.

Using some spare fishing line, he pulled as hard as he could, pulling a moderately thin wooden board away to reveal a hidden pitfall.

The gnomes, as numerous as they were, couldn’t stop in time and fell right in, just like in the cartoons.

Unlike the cartoons were the presence of wooden stakes at the bottom of the pit, which impaled many of the unfortunate little buggers.

But eventually, the bodies began to pile up, and soon the gnomes were able to try and climb out of the pit.

Keyword: Try.

When they tried to grasp the walls, they found themselves either stuck or slipping off. 

Naito had covered the walls of his trap with altering coats of slime gel and soap from his weapon’s…soap bar form.

As his party members drew back, Naito switched to the Red Balloon Airburst, which took the form of a rubbery, red dagger.

He let loose a volley of three slow-moving blades, striking a gnome in the face and setting it on fire. Three seconds was enough to start a chain reaction and light many more gnomes.

One fell into the pitfall, igniting the whole thing as the slime gel and wooden stakes caught fire, creating a brief pillar of smoke and flame.

Luckily for Naito and his party, the cave’s ceiling seemed to be at enough of an angle for the smoke to simply move away from them, as smoke tends to try and go as high as it can.

Unfortunately, the gnomes were too short for the smoke to choke them out. But at the very least, with the pit of fire in the way, their assault had halted in its tracks. 

“Ravil, fire off a few spells! Start picking them off!”

“R-Right!”

Bolts of light flew past Naito’s head as he switched to the Throwing Brick and blindly lobbed one through the smoke as hard as he could, watching from the corner of his eye as a cluster of EXP notifications popped up.

The gnomes eventually got their act together and began to leap over the pitfall, continuing their head-on attack.

_ ‘Their numbers are very few, I can salvage this.’ _

“Theonades, shield up and charge. I want them back in the pit.”

“Yes sir!”

The paladin did exactly that, bulldozing the gnomes in his path. The Dagger Hero followed behind him, picking off any gnomes who were thrown to the side.

The last of the gnomes was mid-jump when Theo came to a halt right in front of the pit, causing it and many others to fall right in, reigniting the flames even further.

They’d needed the gnome hats for their quest, but their survival was most important.

As their high-pitched screams and the stench of burning flesh filled the cave, Ravilese just watched in abject horror.

This...this is what adventurers do? Daily, too?!

* * *

After the party collected their rewards for the gnome hunt, earning them a nice sum of 125 silver, with a bonus of 50 more for the recovery of the mushrooms that the gnomes were using as housing.

Having gone a little deeper while testing the waters, Naito decided that maybe he should visit that magic shop. While they were lucky to get away unscathed, he found that situation a bit...unnerving.

What if there had been several dozen more?

Shaking that thought away, the Dagger Hero and his party entered the shop.

The inside was dimly lit and filled to the brim with books and scrolls.

As they walked towards the main counter, Ravil suddenly sneezed, as this place was rather dusty.

“OH! Customers! I’ll be out there in just a moment!” A voice called out somewhere in the back rooms.

After a short wait, a middle-aged woman came out.

“How may I help you, dear cust—“ Her eyes moved down towards Naito’s dagger, now in its default state. “My, oh my! A hero! Welcome to my humble abode! How may I help you?”

Naito thought for a moment. “I have heard from my fellow party members that I could possibly check my magical alignment here.”

“Oh, why of course! Come right on up and place your hand on this magical crystal ball! And don’t worry about breaking it! It doesn’t measure the amount— apparently, many heroes have spoken tales of appraisal crystals breaking due to a person’s sheer magical power!”

“I see.” Naito nodded and reached out to touch the crystal.

Darkness broiled within the crystal, coiling and twisting on itself. 

“Oh! Such a powerful affinity for dark magic! I don’t think I’ve ever seen such a powerful attunement before!” Then, she squinted her eyes. “Interesting…”

The darkness unfurled to reveal...an ever so small lick of flame, nestled gently within the black depths.

“A spark of flame, deep within the darkness. A guiding light, perhaps? Or perhaps something more sinister?”

Naito took this all in, discreetly wiping away a bit of sweat from his brow. “Ah...yes. Flames. I see. I am quite familiar with various forms of magical fire. A few of my caretakers were fairly adept at utilizing such abilities.”

Back home,  _ using _ magic was easy. To  _ learn  _ it took actual skill. Anyone back home could pick up a magic tool, staff, or tome, and fire off a powerful pre-packaged spell by injecting their mana into it.

To convert mana into a weapon directly without the use of a catalyst took countless hours of learning precise control, lest you blow a metaphysical fuse.

“Ah, I see! I’d love to hear about these magical fires! But alas, I must inform you that we’re out of spell orbs— We weren’t expecting a fifth hero, and we didn’t get any dark element ones anyway. You’ll have to learn spells the old fashioned way.”

Wait, wait,  _ wait _ .

“The old fashioned way?” Naito asked, confusion audible in his voice.

“Precisely. You’ll have to read a tome. It’ll tell you everything you need to know about casting a particular spell, but actually casting it will take lots of practice. It’s a lot slower than just using a crystal orb, which is more or less instant.”

Instant.  _ Instant. INSTANT _ .

**_‘WHAT?’_ **

“I...I see. How many spell tomes do you have available?”

“I’ve got several for the dark element— I can give you a bulk discount for them if you’d like. Nobody really buys those— they’re just collecting dust at this point.”

The Dagger Hero nodded. “A fair offer. I’ll take you up on it. May I get a few fire ones as well?”

“Sure, sure! That’ll be…” She went silent as Naito slid three gold coins onto the counter. “Keep the change.”

“My, my, aren’t you generous~?”

* * *

Naito once more stood in the Adventurer’s Guild, browsing through the various requests.

“Hey, Naito-san!” A somewhat familiar voice called out. The otherworlder turned his head to spot Itsuki, over at the bounty board.

“Greetings, Itsuki. I did not expect to meet you here of all places.”

“Ren-san stops by here often, you know. Anyways, how’s your party doing?”

“They’re doing well— they hit the mid 20’s a while back.”

“Nice. Keep that up and these waves will be a piece of cake!”

_ ‘Piece of cake? I could go for some right now.’ _

“I most certainly hope so.”

…

Out of the blue, Naito felt a strange curiosity rise within him. “Say, may I get a good look at your bow?” 

Itsuki raised an eyebrow but shrugged and reached out with his bow in its default state, allowing Naito to inspect it.

“Hm...It's not the most extravagant design. But…”

Itsuki’s bow appeared to be made out of some gold-like material but was mostly covered in an unknown, marble-colored metal casing, save for the place where an arrow rest would be, where there was a red gem, not unlike his dagger’s purple gem where it absorbed materials.

“The craftsmanship is very, very well done. It could easily be considered a masterwork in the Hallowed Kingdom back home.”

That got the Bow Hero’s interest. “The Hallowed Kingdom?”

“The Hallowed Kingdom is one of the…kingdoms, from back home. They’re an old-fashioned kingdom of sorts, just like Melomarc. They pride themselves on their ability to produce the best of mages and bow-wielding rangers.”

“Huh. Damn, didn’t think you were capable of speaking that much.”

“You’d be surprised.”

—

After bidding farewell to the Hero of the Bow, Naito approached a board of requests that Itsuki had presumably been hanging around.

Instead of subjugation requests, this one had been covered in bounties for various outlaws. He grabbed one at random—

  
  


**WANTED**

**Demi-human Scum**

**Slick Lyro**

**For Crimes against Nobility, the Royal Court and the Church of the Three Heroes.**

**Including but not limited to:**

**Grand Theft, Breaking and Entering, Desecration of Holy Ground, Petty Burglary, Resisting Arrest, and Loitering.**

\-- Which displayed the artist’s rendition of a green-haired woman with...cat ears...and approached the front desk.

“I’ll take this one.”

  
  
“Hm?” The receptionist looked at the paper. “O-Oh! Are you sure? Many high-ranking adventurers have tried to track her down and gave up…”

“Yes, I’m quite certain.”

  
  
After all, thieves and assassins have very similar skill sets….right?

Right?


	5. Chapter 5

A few days had passed since they had taken on the bounty request for Slick Lyro.

Naito sat at a table in the inn room which he had booked for the night.

In front of him was a map of Melomarc, marked in ink with all the places that his bounty target had hit. Some (slightly expensive) vibrant red yarn was tied to the tacks that pinned several pieces of parchment containing transcripts of various interviews.

He stared at it for what felt like hours as if he could make the map just break and share some cosmic secret that would solve this issue with ease.

_Ding!_

His phone suddenly went off, notifying him that his translation software was done translating yet another spellbook page.

Picking up his device, he looked at the translated document on its screen.

Beneath his bandana, the Dagger Hero smirked.

Looks like there would be no need for some super complex algorithmic solution.

A sting operation would do just nicely.

He looked at the board he had meticulously set up, then sighed in annoyance. He'd spent a whole gold coin on a spool of that thread and didn't even need it in the end.

* * *

"I am quite humbled to be personally asked by one of the Heros for my help, however, what can you offer me in return, dagger wielder?"

Naito now sat at a fancy table, talking to this...nobleman.

"Have you heard of the wanted criminal known as Slick Lyro?"

The nobleman scowled. "That filthy demi-human thief? It's about time someone got around to taking her down. What can I do to help?

He'd heard it many times. Just...this blatant racism against these "demi-humans," who were apparently just humans with animal parts.

Still didn't stop him from flinching quietly.

Naito recollected himself, pulling out an elaborate piece of jewelry.

"This piece right here has been forged with silver from my world. That alone is worth lots, is it not?"

It was a small sculpture of intertwining silver rods, with a decently-sized sapphire in the center.

The nobleman's eyes widened in surprise. "You'd give me this, sir hero?!"

"Indeed. What I need you to do is to spread some rumors. Brag about receiving this, if you'd like. Just don't mention me specifically, for I don't have the materials for commissions."

"I see, but how will this…?"

"This piece has been enchanted with a tracking spell attuned to me. We're going to use it as bait to track down Slick Lyro. Once she's apprehended, I will do my best to make sure that it gets back to you. Trust me, I will know when it is gone."

"Ohohoh! We have a deal, sir Dagger Hero! Bring that filthy subhuman to justice!"

* * *

As soon as Naito left that nobleman's property, he finally exhaled.

Gods above. How much perfume does a man even need?

He shrugged, continuing on once the noxious fumes of artificial scent left him. Without that smell to haze his mind, he began to think.

' _Damn. What did the Demi-humans ever do to Melomarc?'_

There were demi-humans back home, too. His own aunt, Callie, was from a race known as Demonfolk.

' _Callie had traits that would stand out... is it the cosmetic aspect that people look for? Winry's indistinguishable from "Human", would she be the subject of racism? Because she was born different?'_

Naito shivered and rubbed one of his arms, looking around the brickwork buildings.

' _Her parents would turn cities to ashes for that girl. Maybe Uncle would too.'_

He shook those thoughts out of his head.

Not only that, but one of the neighboring kingdoms, the Corruption Kingdom...they had a bit of...a thing...for demi-humans.

' _If Princess Decaydia were here, she'd go ballistic— in more ways than one.'_

* * *

**[A few days later]**

It was evening as Naito was in the field just outside the capital city, as he had decided to hunt some monsters a bit later than usual.

They couldn't go _too_ far from Castle City, as the curse he had applied to the idol was only a low-level one and thus had a limited range.

He'd asked Ren where he would find the cool-colored variants of the Balloon Monsters, and he told him that some only came out when it grew dark.

Spotting a group of green-colored Balloons in the distance, he decided to try out some of his newly learned spells.

" **First Firebolt**." He spoke with a toned-down voice, so as to not alert the monsters too soon. A fireball formed in his hand before shifting into what vaguely resembled an arrowhead, before shooting out toward the group of Balloons.

It pierced one of them, popping it instantly. The others took notice, looking around for the assailant.

Before they got the chance, The Dagger Hero tried out another one of the spells he had learned.

" **First Darkslash.** " A thin crescent-shaped blade of dark magic launched through the air, popping the balloons in its path.

Satisfied with his handiwork, he approached their remains and began scooping them up into his dagger.

* * *

**New weapon unlocked - Green Balloon Airburst**

**On Hit: Inflict [Lesser Poison] for 6 seconds.**

* * *

**New weapon unlocked - Indigo Balloon Airburst**

**On hit: Deal [Confusion] for 5 seconds.**

* * *

**New weapon unlocked - Violet Balloon Airburst**

**On Hit: Inflict [Lesser Venom] for 6 seconds.**

* * *

**['Rainbow Balloon' Requirements met!]**

**New weapon unlocked - Rainbow Balloon Airburst**

**On Hit: Randomly inflicts debuffs or effects of three different colored Balloon Airbursts.**

* * *

**['Chomp Chomp' requirements met!]**

**New weapon unlocked - Chomping Dagger**

**Attaches to enemies to deal damage over time.**

**Stealth Strike: Launch a pair of Balloon monsters as well as the dagger.**

* * *

These magic spells…

He wasn't gonna lie, it felt pretty good to be able to use magic like this. Still needed to figure out how to improve his maximum mana, however. A mere 60 didn't give him much to work with, as just casting those two spells took a lot of mana.

Suddenly, Naito felt a tingling in the back of his mind. He looked over his shoulder, sensing movement.

The Dagger Hero smirked, pulling the Counter Scarf out of his inventory and wrapping it around his neck.

' _Hook, line, and sinker.'_

As he ran through the gates into the city, he passed by the aforementioned Sword Hero.

He wasn't too surprised that Ren would be out this late— the others had called him a power-gamer of some sort.

"Ren." He called out, startling the teen who was in the middle of his cool loner walk. "Can you pass a message onto my party if you meet them?"

The Sword Hero winced, though whether it was because of Naito's generally intimidating aura or it was because of the prospect of social interaction, remains unknown. "W-...Sure."

"Tell them that if I'm not back by morning, that I'm chasing after a bounty target. They're in the Winking Skeever Inn."

"Uuh, gotcha."

Ren watched as Naito power-walked away, before looking down at his sword.

He was going to be honest; he was kind of envious of Naito's serious loner energy.

* * *

Using the climbing gear that he had brought with him to this world, Naito quietly scaled the side of a building. Once he reached the top, he quickly made his way to the location of the cursed jewelry, following it as it zigzagged through the streets of Melomarc's capital city.

He paused, looking down as he saw a bunch of guards running through the alleyways in pursuit of their cat burglar.

He watched her flee from them, a gleeful, toothy grin on her face and an oddly prevalent skip in her step, almost as if this were some kind of game.

They rounded the corner, the outlaw finding herself in a dead-end.

"We've got you now, you goddamn animal! Nowhere to run!"

She turned around in an overly cutesy fashion, giggling.

"Quite the contrary! **Zweit Flash**!"

Naito barely had any time to cover his eyes when he heard that word, just in time for a bright flash of light to strike the guards. They stumbled around, trying to regain their sight.

"Lyro the Slick makes yet another great escape from the hand of authority! Nyahahaha~!" She chortled as she did yet another twirl, now on the rooftops and slinking away into the approaching night.

The Dagger Hero jumped across the gap between buildings in the alleyway, continuing his pursuit, as one of the knights comically screamed into the uncaring world.

" _CURSE YOU, DAMN DEMI-HUMAN!"_

—

Lyro continued to saunter through the capital, having shaken her pursuers.

The buildings around her began to degrade in quality as she moved ahead, aiming for the capital's slums.

With cat-like agility, she jumped leaps and bounds across the dilapidated rooftops, until she finally came across what seemed like an abandoned building.

She looked around to make sure nobody was looking, before sliding away some rotted wood to reveal a hidden entrance.

Silently, the cat burglar slipped in, closing the trapdoor behind her.

Finally free to do whatever she wanted, she took out the stolen piece of jewelry.

A gift from one of the summoned heroes, they had said.

The silver was said to be otherworldly, and that meant it had to be worth big bucks.

_Creaaak_

Ignoring the sound of the wind outside, she continues to inspect the shiny art piece sitting before her.

**CRASH!**

The demi-human yelped as the trapdoor she had entered through was kicked off of its hinges, falling to the floor as some man in purple dropped in.

—

Naito looked up at his bounty target as she grabbed a crossbow off of the table next to her.

"Please knock on the door next time!" She said with a wavering smirk as she loaded a bolt into her weapon, trying to shake off her initial shock of his intrusion.

"Duly noted. Lyro the Slick, you are hereby to be apprehended for your crimes."

"Nyoh? I've heard that countless times. You don't look like any Shadow I've seen before— too much armor plating. Who sent you? You with the Church?"

Shadow? With the church? He had no clue what she was talking about.

"I'm just looking to collect your bounty."

"Nyohoho! A penny pincher, nyeh? Or are you perhaps...looking for " _bounty"_...?"

"Do _not_ make this awkward for me."

"Heh. You know how it is here." Her jovial, smug expression darkened into a harsh scowl. "If I get caught here, I get sold off to some fatass noble.."

…

…

…

Naito's facade broke. "You— what?"

He knew all too well the sheer distaste for demi-humans in Melomarc, since these nobles honestly just wouldn't shut up about it.

But these people...they didn't actually partake in demi-human trafficking...did they?

Seeing that he'd been distracted for a moment, Lyro smiled.

" **Zweit Flash!** "

The Dagger Hero gasped and grunted as he was blinded by the light.

' _I fucking fell for that?!'_

He felt a great weight fall upon him as Lyro jumped onto his shoulders and launched herself through the open hole where he'd kicked out the trapdoor.

"Sorry! But I have other plans! So I'm afraid this is goodbye!"

She took off into the darkness. As soon as Naito recovered, he climbed out and took chase.

' _Damn, she's fast. Almost giving me a run for my money. In a literal sense, anyway.'_

Seems like she wasn't aware of the curse.

Good.

* * *

Lyro took off across the slums, zigzagging around the place as she made her way to the city walls.

Her intent was to shake off her pursuer once and for all, and if she could make it into the forests surrounding the capital, she'd be good to go.

She looked over her shoulder to see a purple blur chasing after her.

"Nyoh? Still on my heels? We'll see about that."

Her hands seemed to stick onto the walls of a tall building as she climbed onto its roof and over the capital city's walls.

She leaped off without hesitation, landing on her feet and going full sprint into the woods.

Lyro the Slick still had several tricks up her sleeve.

* * *

Naito watched as at least five different copies of his bounty target ran in different directions.

' _Huh. Is that illusion magic?'_

Ignoring the extra copies, the warrior-in-training looked over his collection of unlocked daggers, and sighed when he didn't see anything that could help slow her down.

There was the Yellow Balloon Airburst, but that thing would never catch up to her. Besides, it only had a 10% stun chance.

But hey, that was fine.

Terrarians were meant to pull all-nighters. He'd catch up eventually.

He continued onwards, chasing her into the woods.

As he did so, shadows seemed to move as bandits jumped out of the greenery to stop him.

He dived between them, slashing them both with his blade, only for them to dissipate.

' _Yep, illusions.'_

* * *

Lyro didn't know how long she'd been running from this guy.

She knew this part of the forest like the back of her hand. She'd even lured him into the path of a snare trap she'd set up to catch prey animals to eat.

He'd simply pulled out a fancy looking dagger and cut the rope as it hoisted him into the air, immediately returning to the hunt.

* * *

**New weapon unlocked - Rope Dagger**

**Skill unlocked: Air Strike Dagger**

_Create a projection of a dagger that can either be launched or used as a platform._

* * *

' _What the hell? I got that from rope?! That sounds way too powerful for mere rope!'_

Then, he remembered something important.

' _...but tools and other utility items commonly give useful skills as well…'_ He mentally quoted from the tutorial screen.

He facepalmed mid-stride as he jumped over some large tree roots. He'd completely forgotten to try that!

* * *

The catgirl quickly jumped across a large fissure in the earth, one that she barely made across. Clambering up over the edge, she turned around to check her pursuer's current status.

The chasm in question was fairly wide and deep enough to cause some serious injury if one didn't make it across.

Her safehouse was nearby, and this was her favorite method of ditching the peskier bounty hunters. It would take too long to pass around it to continue the chase.

That being said, her face turned into one of horror when she saw her hunter jump across the chasm as well.

" **Air Strike Dagger**!" He called out.

It didn't seem like he was gonna make it, until out of nowhere, a small projection of a dagger appeared in mid-air. His foot landed on the flat side of the blade, allowing himself to propel himself back up into the air.

Wait.

No no no no NO.

That was a skill, wasn't it?

"Y-You're…you're a hero?! They sent a goddamn hero after me?!"

* * *

Naito sighed. "Look, Miss Lyro. Come with me peacefully and nothing bad will happen. I promise."

"You- You really don't know anything, do you?!" The catgirl pulled up her crossbow and fired, forcing the Dagger Hero to dodge. His Counter Scarf briefly glowed as he sidestepped her attack.

"Just please stand down, ma'am. It will make it—"

"Easier? I'm not falling for that one _again._ The whole country's out to get me, _hero!_ I'm a victim of the damned system! They _enslave_ our kind!"

She was serious, wasn't she? That this kingdom practices slavery?

Not even his Uncle's own empire put such practices into place...right?

Naito wanted to press further, but Lyro had started hissing at him as she loaded and fired another bolt with rather impressive speed.

Realizing that she had started fighting much like a cornered animal, the Dagger Hero finally went on the offensive. He switched to the Yellow Dagger and moved in to slash her.

Lyro yelped as the rubber blade cut into her flesh, drawing blood. It was a shallow cut, but Naito wasn't looking to kill. Unfortunately, it seems that the stun effect didn't take hold, but the electric shock sure did.

The cat burglar stumbled around, opting to try and stab her opponent with her crossbow's ammo instead of shooting it.

However, her movements were growing sloppy, as Naito was able to grab her arm and wretch it out of her hand.

"Grrgh! **Zweit—"**

The Dagger Hero's eye's immediately widened as he used his Counter Scarf's power to back away and quickly pulled his hat down to cover his eyes.

"— **Flash!"**

A bright light filled the air, and a shot of pain went through Naito as yet another bolt flew through the air, this time hitting home as it pierced through his armor.

Even while blinded and distracted, he could sense that the idol was moving again now. He grit his teeth and pulled the bolt out of his flesh.

He continued the chase, allowing his natural healing factor to take care of his wound.

* * *

Lyro let out a sigh of relief. She'd made it back to her home base, finally having shaken off that pursuer once and for all.

How'd he manage to keep track of her, anyway? Yeah, he was apparently a hero, but still…

She looked at the stolen jewelry, and then a stray thought came to her mind.

If the idol really were given to that noble by an actual summoned hero, then…

...Oh no.

She panicked, holding up the crossbow, ready to fire at anything that moved.

Sweat poured down the sides of her face. At first, it had been exhaustion from the chase, but now? Total fear.

Her hands trembled as she scanned the room, slowly backing.

The heel of her foot lightly brushed up against a small table that she had set up long ago, causing her to yelp, spin around, and lodge a bolt into the wall.

Hesitantly, she forced herself to relax as she reloaded her crossbow, reassuring herself that she was just paranoid.

Lowering her weapon, she sighed, turned around, and promptly found herself face-to-face with a hero.

She saw into his eyes and saw the steel gaze of someone who would stop at absolutely _nothing_ to get the job done.

Lyro fucking screamed as she jumped back and shot at him.

* * *

Naitokirā charged forwards with his Counter Scarf, completely negating the damage of her shot as he switched to the **Crimtane Cindeaque** , creating a gash across her front side as the scarf's melee amplifying powers kicked in due to a successful dodge.

She hissed in pain as she stumbled backward, dropping the crossbow.

"I….am NOT going back, Hero of the Sword!" She snarled as she unsheathed hidden razor-sharp, claw-like fingernails that poked out of the holes in her gloves.

Lyro stood her ground as feral, animalistic instincts began to take over as her mind was clouded by pain and desperation. When Naito made any move, she hissed and swiped at him, forcing him to keep his distance.

Wait.

Hero of the Sword?

Naito looked down at his dagger.

' _So this whole time, she thought I was the Sword Hero. I could see how she could make that mistake— daggers are just short shortswords, after all.'_

He smirked beneath his bandana and switched his dagger to the **Demonite Dirk**.

The Dagger Hero reared back and threw it as hard as he could.

Gyro could only watch, pale-faced, as it flew through the air, and embedded itself in her abdomen. She felt her strength leave her as her legs collapsed under her own weight, weakened by the weapons hit effect.

The cat burglar looked up at him as he strode forward, holding a fresh new dagger outward in a threatening manner, the previous one turning into motes of purple energy.

"I am only going to say this once. **Surrender now, and you will NOT BE harmed any further."**

The catgirl looked at him spitefully, panting from the exhaustion. Her blood was beginning to pool up around her. Then, her body totally relaxed, as she finally gave up.

"F-Fine. I surrender. Do...do with me what you please..."

She was too tired and too battered to care anymore.

This was her fate now. And there was nothing she could do about it.


End file.
